Welcome to the Division of Federal Programs. This division administers federal programs and funding to over 570 local education agencies, non-public and charter schools in the amount of $700 million. On this site you can secure information on programs, allocations, request for proposals for grants, and forms.

The U.S. Department of Education has afforded Pennsylvania the opportunity to extend the waiver previously granted under section 421(b) of the General Education Provisions Act to extend the period of availability of the fiscal year 2009 School Improvement Grant (SIG) funds awarded under Section 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended, until September 30, 2014. This request to extend the waiver, submitted pursuant to section 9401(d)(2) of the ESEA, would permit the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), in accordance with criteria the PDE develops, to identify and allow local education agencies with Cohort 1 SIG schools additional time to expend remaining FY09 SIG funds in those schools.

PDE seeks this extended waiver because some Pennsylvania LEAs have implemented educational programs that have greatly improved the opportunities for their students and have successfully initiated systems to turn around previously low achieving school. PDE believes that the additional time is in the public interest and will enable qualifying LEAs to ensure that their Cohort 1 schools are able to use remaining FY 2009 SIG funds to support continued full and effective implementation of selected SIG intervention models for one additional year.

Should you wish to provide PDE with comments on this waiver request, please send them to Virginia Baker, PDE's SIG state manager, at vbaker@pa.gov or Pennsylvania Department of Education, 333 Market Street, 7th Floor – Attn. SIG State Manager, Harrisburg, PA 17126. PDE must receive all comments by 5 p.m. on August 8, 2013.

Community Eligibility Provision Effects on Title I School Ranking

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-296) offers local education agencies (LEA) an alternative to collecting household applications in the National School Lunch and National School Breakfast Programs, which eliminates the unnecessary paperwork and frustration that can go along with the process.

Community Eligibility Provision is a reimbursement option for eligible LEAs and schools that wish to offer free meals to all children in high poverty schools. This program is administered via the Division of Food and Nutrition in the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Detailed information regarding the program can be found at Food & Nutrition Services, Community Eligibility Provision.

The adoption of the Community Eligibility Provision will have an effect on other program areas, including the Division of Federal Programs. Title I building rankings may be affected. Several examples are included in the following document.

Pennsylvania Department of Education allocates federal funds from USDE to public school districts and charter school each school year. These funds are to be used to run each districts programs. Below is a listing by school year of the allocations that are distributed thru the Division of Federal Programs.

Each local education agency (LEA) will be reviewed for its compliance with the regulations governing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act once in a four-year cycle. The yearly monitoring cycle runs from January through May of each year. When an LEA is due for a review, they are required to complete a self-assessment, which can be found online at www.leaderservices.com/fedmonitor, with an assigned username and password provided by the Division of Federal Programs.

The monitors conducting these reviews are typically retired administrators or current practitioners that are hired and trained by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Division of Federal Programs. Monitors will use the self-assessments completed by the LEA to verify compliance of each federal program requirement for Titles I A, I D, IIA, III, VI, Fiscal and Ed-Flex Waivers. LEAs will have access to their final monitoring report which is also stored online at www.leaderservices.com/fedmonitor. It can be viewed and printed after logging in with the same assigned username/password. Monitoring cycles are also posted on PDE's website at all times.

Under the Consolidated Monitoring Review Process, every LEA receiving federal funds will be monitored at least once every four years (with the exception of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh who are monitored annually).